What I Gained From You
by ccpopstar
Summary: Oneshot. Sasuke has left the village and Ino needs a trainer for the upcoming Chuunin exams. ShikaIno.


A/N: First time posting up in the Naruto section. Yay for me. I decided to write this just because it's my one-year anniversary with my boyfriend. If I had to pick two characters that describe us, it would have to be Shikamaru and Ino. I picked Shikamaru because he's lazy and I picked Ino because she's funny. Enjoy and review!

What I Gained From You 

Sasuke was gone for good. Those were the words Ino heard when he had left. She had just decided to visit Sakura and discovered her, teary faced and exhausted.

"He's gone! He's never coming back! Oh, Sasuke!" Sakura bawled into her pillow as Ino stood at the door with an apprehensive look on her face. She walked over to Sakura and rubbed her back until the girl had calmed herself down enough to sleep. Ino left the Haruno household and retreated to her own home.

She entered her darkened room without bothering to turn the light on. Her body threw itself on the bed as she started to hug the pillow close to her mouth. A silent scream went unheard. Sasuke was gone.

As the tears spilled, Ino breathed into the pillow inhaling the scent of her shampoo. Sasuke-kun was gone, and he hadn't even taken the time to say goodbye to her. He had only said goodbye to _Sakura_.

Ino wasn't surprised about that though. She knew Sakura deep down really loved Sasuke more than she did. But she felt like she had been robbed. Whenever it came to anything between the two, Ino felt that Sakura got the better end of the deal. This was no exception. She sniffed as she rubbed her sticky tear marked face.

Sasuke was just a stupid crush anyway. Ino never really expected for him to ever return her feelings. Yet, when you strive for something so much, you still feel the pain when you lose in the end, hard loss or otherwise.

Naruto left and Sakura was being taught under Tsunade-sama. Everyone was pushing himself or herself to be better fighters.

Ino decided to attain the Chuunin rank in order to prove something to herself. Sakura was to take it with them as well, because she was missing a team member and Shikamaru had already attained the Chuunin rank as well.

That's right! Shikamaru Nara! Ino smiled to herself proudly. The test was almost about to commence. It was a week away and Ino swore to herself not to lose this time!

She decided she would need a little tutoring. Deciding that Sakura would be taught under Tsunade-sama, Chouji would take lessons from his dad, and Ino already learned what she could pick up from her father, she decided to ask Shikamaru for help! How could he refuse her?

"No." Shikamaru muttered as he continued watching clouds from up on the rooftop.

"What? Shikamaru! How can you say no to your teammate?" Ino shouted.

"Like this. No."

Ino looked down at his smug form bearing his Chuunin vest and chewing on a random blade of grass. He seemed content to just watch the clouds. This was making Ino very mad. She grit her teeth and marched over to his form.

The pretty clouds in the sky were suddenly replaced by a ravenous Ino. She slid on top of his body spreading her legs and extending her arms to trap him underneath her.

"I-Ino!?" He shouted. His face turned red at the position she was in. She leaned forward and pushed her weight atop of him. Laying her chin on his chest she glared at him as he kept stammering.

"Ino, get off me! This is uncomfortable!" He shouted at the top of his lungs.

"Not until you teach me!" She shouted just as loud. He shifted his body but she wouldn't relent her hold on him. He didn't want to get rough. She was a girl after all.

This was getting troublesome.

"I don't want to teach you so get off!"

"Why won't you help me, Shikamaru? I thought we were best friends!" She shouted.

"Because it would be too troublesome!" He shouted back. She looked back down at him with shock. Her lip quivered. She loosened her grip on his arms and legs. Shikamaru looked up and saw tears forming in her bright blue eyes.

"Am I not worth it?" Her voice shook. He bit his lip.

'Crap, I made her cry' He thought.

"Ino, you are worth a lot to me, but I don't how I would be able to teach you anything that your dad or Asuma-sensei could teach you."

"Shikamaru, you're smart! I want to learn how to be as clever as you!" She shouted as the tears receded. He rolled his eyes. Yes, this was really troublesome.

"Fine, I'll teach you! Now get off me!" A sparkle shone in her eyes as she jumped off him and held her hands to her face with a smile.

He sat up with the usual grumpy look at her.

"Oh, thank you Shikamaru! Thank you, thank you!" She pulled him into a great big hug.

Later they were at one of the numerous training grounds.

Shikamaru observed Ino as she trained.

'Why did she need me to watch her train? It's not like I can help her any more. She's good enough as it is.'

Ino finished punching the sack dummy and wiped her brow of sweat. She looked over to Shikamaru relaxing and standing against a tree in the shade. She smiled and waved. He rolled his eyes again but waved back.

Suddenly, he felt something hit him in the chest. He stared ahead of him and saw Ino with her fingers in the usual jutsu form. Did she just-?

'Shikamaru!'

He could hear Ino's voice ringing out through the expanse of his mind. This was annoying and he was angry at her for using her signature jutsu on him.

"Ino! Why did you do that? I thought I was your friend!" He shouted out toward the darkness. He couldn't see anything. She was in total control of his body. This was even more uncomfortable then before.

"I just wanted to test myself to see how far I can go to capture an enemy. You were standing pretty far away! That means I'm getting good!"

Shikamaru rolled his eyes. Of course Ino would pull something like this. How could he have known?

"Will you release me now?"

"Okay!" He felt his head grow lighter and he could see the forest around him again. He was back in control. He turned to see Ino's body a slump on the dirt ground. That was a dangerous move to use if she was alone. Ino had no way to defend herself in that state. He walked over to her. He wondered how long it would take for her to return to her body. Usually it was instantaneous, but she was still not waking up.

He knelt down next to her body and picked it up bridal style. She would probably complain that she got her outfit dirty and he had done nothing to prevent it. That was one of 297 different scenarios Shikamaru thought out as he felt Ino reawaken. She looked back up at him and he set her down on her feet gently.

"Sorry, Shikamaru, I guess that wasn't funny for you, was it?" She bowed in apology.

"Troublesome." He muttered as he started to head back to the village.

"Wait! Where are you going? I'm not done training yet!" He stopped and looked back at her.

"I don't have time to play games, Ino. I have to be heading on now." He spoke truthfully.

"What?" She was hurt.

"Why don't you train with someone else? Like Chouji or Sakura?" He suggested as he left.

A tug at his arm stopped him. Ino panted as she regained her composure from running so fast.

"I don't want to be with anyone else! I want to be with you!" She shouted up at him. His eyes widened. Did she realize how that sounded?

She let go of his arm and started breathing heavier regaining her breath.

"Ino."

She stood up straight.

"Shikamaru?" His shadow had intertwined with hers. He had used his jutsu on her like she had just done.

"Here's some training. Try to get out of this hold. It requires a lot of will power which you need to build up if you ever want to use your mind transfer jutsu by yourself."

She looked shocked but grit her teeth. He smirked. This was kind of fun.

Her brow furrowed as she tried to concentrate. She moved slid her left foot a few inches forward.

She smiled.

"I did it!" Shikamaru smirked. She did well for her first time concentrating that hard. He released her and she smiled.

"Good job."

Ino looked shocked.

"Shikamaru…did you just compliment me?" He blushed furiously.

"You did! The look on your face proves it!" She bounced up and down in front of him.

He tried to hide the blush but smirked. He couldn't help but show emotion in front of Ino.

Ino looked up towards the cloud-filled sky and whistled.

"I didn't know we had been out this long, Shikamaru! We better get back to the village!"

Ino reached out and grabbed his hand and tugged him along. He followed slightly behind her. He stared at their hands and she smiled and looked up at him.

"Thanks for today, Shikamaru. I know you probably had better things to do today then spend the day with me, but I appreciate this." She stopped suddenly.

She kissed him on the cheek and walked onward. Shikamaru looked dumbfounded but smirked slightly as he followed close behind.

Ino smiled to herself as she walked ahead of Shikamaru. Perhaps Shikamaru was the reward she was granted all these years after pining after Sasuke? After so many months without Sasuke and Naruto around, time had still gone on, even when she thought there was no way it could have. She looked back to see a smirking Shikamaru following behind her and she smiled a little more.

She could barely imagine her and Shikamaru together. She was outgoing and loud and loved to be active all the time. He was lazy and quiet and loved the peaceful activity of cloud watching.

The fact was she could still _imagine_ it.

The End

A/N: That's my little ShikaIno fic for you all! I hope you enjoyed! Check out my other fics if you're a fan of BLEACH too!

Also! If you enjoyed this fic and want something else done, I do requests! Just send a review my way or pm me and I would be happy to oblige! I do any pairings and any sort of plot you want as well! I guess I'm sort of advertising myself, but I'm bored and I need something to do in my free time! Please review and check out my profile for more! Thanks!


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